Microsoft's most disappointing business is succeeding in one unexpected market

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella with a Lumia handset.
Microsoft
The research firm Kantar has published a report detailing the highs and lows of the Windows Phone's market share around the world.

According to the report, the only significant market where Windows Phone is not in decline is the UK. Microsoft grew its share of the UK market to about 10% in the holiday quarter, up from 7.5% in the previous year.

The story in every other market is more bleak, however, with declines of 2.9% in France, 4.6% in Italy, and a more modest 1.8% in Europe as a whole.

The growth in Britain is surprising since Windows Phone is, by and large, in decline elsewhere in Europe and in the US. Traditionally, the UK has closely followed the US for adoption of smartphones and this is a break from form.

Business Insider reached out to Kantar to ask about the success in the United Kingdom. According to Carolina Milanesi, the firm's chief of research, the low-cost Lumia 535 "sold well in the UK."

Here is a country-by-country breakdown:

The only market that is seeing growth is the UK.
Kantar

Windows Phone, now called Windows 10 Mobile, has been a consistent sales flop, reaching about 1.7% of the global market.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella downplayed the issue of market share, arguing that Windows as a whole — i.e., desktop, Xbox, mobile, and so on — was more important than one single operating system, but the lack of success in mobile is surely not what Microsoft wanted.